My Mom

My sister Abby recently saw a sign in a store that read, ”It’s not lost until Mom can’t find it.”

In my house, it’s not lost until Grandma can’t find it.

I honestly think Emry wouldn’t be surprised if my mom could walk on water. As far as she is concerned, “Grandma” can do anything. If I can’t find one of her little toys, Grandma needs to come over because she can find it. If a button falls off her shirt or a toy needs stitched, we need to take it to Grandma’s because I am apparently incapable of threading a needle and stitching a button. (I am not. My mom did try to teach me to sew. I did cross stitch for a short period of my life. I can thread a needle and re-attach a button. Now a seam ripper…well, I won’t confess to how many of those I have broken but it is safe to say every single one I have ever used.) But the best one had to be a few months ago when the DVD player wasn’t working. While I hunted down the DVD cleaner, Emry stood impatiently by and informed me, “Call Grandma. Grandma can fix it.” I wanted to say, “Emry. Your grandma would be doing good if she even got the thing turned on,” but, of course, I didn’t. Because Grandma can do anything. And everything.

I learned this past week that Grandma even makes her own puzzles. A year has passed since my last Mother’s Day post when I wrote about the amazing things Emry thinks my mom can create. Apparently, even though she is four and knows much more about economics (buying and selling at a store) than she did a year ago, if my mom has given it to her then my mom has made it. Hence the floor puzzle of a sea animals my mom gave her several months ago. Emry had pieced it together one rest period and it was still on the floor when I was brushing her hair the next morning. On the bottom of the puzzle is a game telling the kids to find one whale, two dolphins, etc. in the picture. I realized that the word “octopus” was spelled wrong. (It’s spelled “octapus” on the puzzle.) Not really thinking much about it, I stated that aloud. Although she is doing quite well with her reading, that word is currently beyond Emry’s skill level and yet she queried me about it. So, I told her the word “octopus” has a second “O” in it and not an “A”. She nodded her head sagely and stated, “Grandma painted it wrong. She needs to fix it.”

Honestly, I don’t think she believed me when I said Grandma did not make her own puzzles, but she did seem to understand that it could not be fixed.

Since moving to Indiana, Mom proves more and more that she is not only an amazing mother but she is also an amazing grandmother. The kids love spending time with her, they rush to greet her when she comes, they want her to come every day, they love going to her house and they are sad when she leaves. And if that doesn’t tell you what kind of woman my mother is, I don’t know what will!